The Bluetones are an English indie rock band, formed in Hounslow, Greater London, in 1993. The band's members are Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Mark's younger brother Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums. A fifth member, Richard Payne, came on board between 1998 and 2002 on keys but still regularly tours with the band. Before their official formation, all members of the band excluding Chesters were originally in a group called 'the Bottlegarden'.
The band has scored thirteen top 40 singles and three top 10 albums on the UK charts. Although their commercial success waned in the post-Britpop era, they continued to tour and release new records. Their most recent album, Atlas was released in May 2026, almost sixteen years after their previous album, A New Athens released in May 2010.
Formation
In 1989, after going to see a Stone Roses concert at the ICA with a friend and an acquaintance, Mark Morriss was asked if he wanted to join the Bottlegarden, since he played guitar and they were looking for a guitarist. After a couple of rehearsals, he decided to bring his brother along as a bassist and placeholder at first but later officially joined since he was improving fast, making them a five-piece. They started playing venues in 1990, mainly around Hounslow, and the other guitarist, Luke, left to go to university around this time.
They were introduced to Chesters, who was working with Soho at the time, by Dodgy's drummer, Matthew Priest at The Dodgy Club since they needed a replacement drummer. One weekend, he came round to the garage they had been rehearsing in and listened to the first song they had demoed, "A Parting Gesture", and decided to join them after this, having doubts about the age gap and music style between him and Soho. Devlin said that Chesters "just clicked seamlessly."
History
After the release of two singles on Fierce Panda Records, the band signed to A&M Records and released Expecting to Fly on their own sublabel Superior Quality Recordings. It was named after a Buffalo Springfield single, one of their biggest influences. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, and featured the singles "Bluetonic", "Slight Return" and "Cut Some Rug", with the latter climbing to number two on the UK Singles Chart. Following the touring and promotional duties for the album, the band released stand-alone single "Marblehead Johnson" in September 1996 to bridge the gap between albums. after A&M were being sold to a different company, and released their third album, Science & Nature, which again reached the top 10 and featured the hit singles "Keep the Home Fires Burning" and "Autophilia".
After a greatist hits compilation in 2002, the band released their fourth studio album Luxembourg, primarily under Superior Quality after leaving Mercury, to mixed reviews in 2003. It featured double-A-side "Fast Boy/Liquid Lips" and "Never Going Nowhere".
A three-album deal was signed in late 2005 with the Cooking Vinyl record label, promptly followed by the limited release of EP Serenity Now and a full UK tour.
In early 2006, Universal issued a comprehensive box set of all Bluetones singles, B-sides and additional bonus tracks released between 1995 and 2003, A Rough Outline.
A single, entitled "My Neighbour's House", was released in the UK on 18 September 2006. The single was taken from their self-titled album, which was released on 9 October that year. It failed to chart on the UK Albums Chart after its first week on sale. The album was also released in the United States, the first such occurrence since their debut. Although no reason was cited, on 1 October 2006, it was announced that a planned nine-date tour of North America and Australia had been scrapped. However, on 1 November 2006, the band began a month-long tour of Europe in support of their new release, including two sold-out nights at Glasgow's King Tuts.
In February 2007, the band released BBC Radio Sessions containing tracks recorded for the BBC between 1994 and 2000. This was followed in June with their first full live album, Once Upon a Time in West Twelve, recorded at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 18 November 2005, and was followed on 29 October 2007, by a live DVD of the same concert under the title Beat about the Bush. 2007 also saw the release of a compilation album of early demo recordings, entitled The Early Garage Years. They also released a DVD under the title Blue Movies, which includes all of their 15 promotional music videos.
In January 2008, the band began a mini-tour of Scotland, playing five cities (Stirling, Dunfermline, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh) in as many nights.
In December 2008, the band embarked on a five-date tour, taking in Lincoln, Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham. The tour saw them playing their debut album, Expecting to Fly, in full. Some further dates were subsequently announced for February and March 2009.
On 31 May 2010, the band released a new album entitled A New Athens. Despite moderate praise, the album failed to appear on the UK Albums Chart.
On 28 March 2011, the band announced they would split after a farewell tour in the autumn. On 13 April 2015, the band announced that they would reform for a new UK tour.
In summer 2017, they co-headlined the Star Shaped Festival tour run by the popular Britpop club of the same name alongside the newly reformed Sleeper. This took place in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Glasgow in July and August 2017.
On 1 May 2026, their first album in almost sixteen years entitled Atlas. Although it failed to chart the UK Albums Chart, it reached number 20 on the Scottish Albums Chart.
Discography
The discography of the Bluetones, an English indie rock band, consists of seven studio albums, six compilation albums, two live album, six extended plays, twenty singles and four video releases.
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Album details
! colspan="3" | Chart positions
! style="width:135px;" rowspan="2"| Certifications<br />
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
!width="30"| UK<br />
!SCO
! width="30" | AUS<br>
|-
| 1998
|align="left"| Return to the Last Chance Saloon
- Released:
- Labels: A&M Records, Superior Quality Recordings
| 10
|8
| –
|
- UK: Gold
- Bluetonic (2017) <small>(reissue of Once Upon a Time in West Twelve)</small>
Compilation albums
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Album details
!| Chart positions
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
!width="30"| UK<br />
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2007
|align="left"| BBC Radio Sessions
- Released:
- Labels: Mercury Records
| 164
!width="30"| IRL<br />
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1995
|align=left| "Slight Return" <small>(limited edition 7")</small>
| –
| –
| –
|align=left| Expecting to Fly
|-
|align=left| "Are You Blue or Are You Blind?"
| 31
| –
| –
|align=left| —
|-
|align=left| "Bluetonic"
| 19
| –
| –
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| Expecting to Fly
|-
|rowspan="4"| 1996
|align=left| "Slight Return" <small>(reissue)</small>
| 2
| 60
| 15
|-
|align=left| "Cut Some Rug"
| rowspan="2" | 7
|rowspan="3"| –
|rowspan="3"| –
|-
|align=left| "Castle Rock"
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| —
|-
|align=left| "Marblehead Johnson"
|7
|-
|rowspan="4"| 1998
|align=left| "Solomon Bites the Worm"
| 10
| –
| –
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"| Return to the Last Chance Saloon
|-
|align=left| "If..."
| 13
| –
| –
|-
|align=left| "Sleazy Bed Track"
| 35
| –
| –
|-
|align=left| "4-Day Weekend" <small>(mail-order-only release)</small>
| –
| –
| –
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2000
|align=left| "Keep the Home Fires Burning"
| 13
| –
| –
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Science & Nature
|-
|align=left| "Autophilia (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Car)"
| 18
| –
| –
|-
| 2002
|align=left| "After Hours"
| 26
| –
| –
|align=left| The Singles
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2003
|align=left| "Fast Boy/Liquid Lips"
| 25
| –
| –
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Luxembourg
|-
|align=left| "Never Going Nowhere"
| 40
| –
| –
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2006
|align=left| "My Neighbour's House"
| 68
| –
| –
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| The Bluetones
|-
|align=left| "Head on a Spike"
| 135
| –
| –
|-
| 2007
|align=left| "Surrendered"
| –
| –
| –
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2010
|align=left| "Carry Me Home"
| –
| –
| –
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| A New Athens
|-
|align=left| "Golden Soul"
| –
| –
| –
|-
| rowspan="2" |2022
| align="left" |"Move Closer"
|–
|–
|–
| style="text-align: left;" |—
|-
| align="left" |"I Like to Lie"
|–
|–
|–
| style="text-align: left;" |A New Athens
|-
|2024
| align="left" |"Drive Thru"
|–
|–
|–
| style="text-align: left;" |Drive Thru EP
|-
| rowspan="2" |2025
| align="left" |"In The Cut"
|–
|–
|–
| style="text-align: left;" |In The Cut EP
|-
| align="left" |"London Weekend Television"
|–
|–
|–
| style="text-align: left;" |London Weekend Television EP
|}
Music videos
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
!Director
|-
| rowspan="2" |1995
|"Are You Blue or Are You Blind?"
|Thomas Napper
|-
|"Bluetonic"
|Dom & Nic
|-
| rowspan="3" |1996
|"Slight Return"
|Lindy Heymann
|-
|"Cut Some Rug"
|Unknown
|-
|"Marblehead Johnson"
|Dom & Nic
|-
| rowspan="4" |1998
|"Solomon Bites the Worm"
|John Hardwick
|-
|"If..."
|Tony Hill
|-
|"Sleazy Bed Track"
|Unknown
|-
|"4 Day Weekend"
|Koji Morimoto
|-
| rowspan="3" |2000
|"Keep the Home Fires Burning"
|Edgar Wright
|-
|"Mudslide"
|Unknown
|-
|"Autophilia"
|Jake & Jim
|-
|2002
|"After Hours"
|Edgar Wright
|-
| rowspan="2" |2003
|"Fast Boy"
| rowspan="2" |Gareth, Maggie Kelly
|-
|"Never Going Nowhere"
|-
|2006
|"Head on a Spike"
|Mark Morriss
|-
| rowspan="2" |2010
|"Carry Me Home"
| rowspan="2" |Scott Morriss
|-
|"Golden Soul"
|-
|2025
|"London Weekend Television"
|William Sash & Jack Stephenson
|}
Video/DVD releases
- Mondo Concerto (1997)
- Blue Movies (2007)
- Beat about the Bush (2007)
- Expecting to Fly Live (2009)
References
External links
- http://bluetones.band/ The Bluetones' official website
- www.myspace.com/thebluetones The Bluetones' official MySpace
- www.youtube.com/@TheBluetonesOfficial2024/ The Bluetones' official YouTube
- www.bluetones.org.uk A Bluetones fan page